Day Three of Three (or Four?)

Above is the emerging foliage of the Amur maackia (Maackia amurensis) which is quite silver when young and is very noticeable, even from a distance. This small tree is extremely tough in bad soils and in urban settings and will have dangling white flower clusters in the coming weeks. I was pleased to see that there were some of these planted in downtown Janesville in spots where they should tolerate the tough setting (sidewalk cutout planters). Today was day three of the sale and while it started out quite slow, we hit a steady pace of patrons in the afternoon. Surprisingly, the sun was out for most of the afternoon which was a comfort after the overcast and misty morning. At times, our volunteers outnumbered our customers and I think we've learned a hard lesson on starting the sale too early on Sundays (for our fall plant sale as well) as many people are at church or doing family things. We will be having a clearance sale of some sort tomorrow (Monday) from 8 am until 6 pm and that will be the end of the spring plant sale. However, we will still sell bagged compost over the next two Saturdays (May 21 & 28, 8 am until 12 noon). Overall, I'm happy with the sale and most impressed with our volunteer help and Janice and Marianne's dedication to the event. The "plant your own container" option did not see much action and we wont include that in the future. I was a bit surprised at this but our intent is to plant up the remainder of the containers with surplus vegetable plants on Tuesday and we have an outlet for distributing these to those that would benefit from having their own containerized vegetable garden for food. To the above right is the golden-leaved Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica 'Chiba Gold') that has single yellow blooms in spring and the addition of golden foliage for the growing season. Most kerrias have green leaves (and green stems) so this one has a bit more "color punch" after the flowers are done. The best yellow leaf color on this variety is in spring. To the right is the interesting spring foliage of the variegated knotweed (Fallopia japonica 'Variegata'). Be wary of knotweeds (Fallopia, Persicaria, etc.) as many are quite vigorous. The variegated form is more tame and the plant above will get 3-4' feet tall this year and have arching pink flowers in late summer. To the right is the wild hyacinth or quamash (Camassia leichtlinii 'Blue Danube') which is a fall planted bulb that loves damp soils and has spectacular blooms about the time the late season tulips start up (now). Directly below are the bright leaves of the crinkled, gold-leaf elm (Ulmus x hollandica 'Wredei') which we have in two locations. This narrow tree is certainly a golden exclamation point from spring thru fall and we look forward to both of our small specimens (6' tall or so) gaining some height and impact. Beneath the elm picture is a close-up of redbud (Cercis canadensis) blooms that really captures the interesting appearance of individual flowers that really add impact this time of year. I was able to get out in the gardens briefly this morning to get some picture and also saw some areas that will be in need of immediate weeding attention. We have some serious "carpet weeds" here and there and each year we wonder where some of these weeds came from originally? Was it from a parent weed in the vicinity or did weed seeds come in on our compost which we spread over a vast area of the garden? Regardless, we'll have our work cut out for us with both weeding and planting over the coming weeks. To the right is the emerging foliage of the fingerleaf Rodger's flower (Rodgersia aesculifolia) which has nice texural, bronzey foliage that will be topped with a creamy flower in a couple of weeks. A year ago I was at the Chicago Botanic Garden in May and observed their Rodgersia collection emerging and it was quite impressive. I think Rodgersias are often overlooked as bold perennials for the part-shade garden. They do need plenty of water though and rich soil would be of benefit too. We have maybe seven or eight types (species and varieties) and I like them all. To the left is the emerging flower of the umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) which will also have mammoth, tropical looking leaves soon. While we have two specimens of this magnolia at RBG, this picture was taken up at Longenecker Gardens (last night) which is the woody plant collection of the UW-Arboretum. I was up there for an event last night and went thru the drizzle to photograph the end of the magnolias and the start of the crabapples (Malus) and lilacs (Syringa). To the right is the exquisite bloom of the wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) which always catches my eye. This 24" perennial has a dwarf (12") yellow blooming version called 'Corbett', a mini-version of what you see here called 'Little Lantern' (10") and a dwarf pink version called 'Pink Lanterns' (12"). We have all of these varieties and columbines (Aquilegia) in general are well represented around the entire gardens. Further below are the dangling bells of the mountain silverbell (Halesia tetraptera) in the shade garden. At the bottom is a shot over the redbud (Cercis candensis) near the observation pier with the arched bridge in the distance. This week (May 14-20) is a free admission week and we hope to see lots of visitors enjoying the gardens. Tomorrow, aside from the clearance sale, will include a Grumpy work morning, plant pick-ups, weeding, etc. Back to business!